Thirty-eight-year-old Romeyn Ayres was a career army officer, a competent
professional at the head of the only division of professional soldiers in the
Army of the Potomac. Six feet tall, he had grown portly and was balding so as
to leave him with a topknot. He sported a massive, wiry beard and spiky
mustache that nearly hid his mouth and ears, making him look older than he was.
His high intelligent forehead and philosophical gaze imparted the air of a
stoic, yet the mere size of the man asserted authority. He was a very social
man in the best sense of the word; considerate of others and full of fun
without sacrificing his dignity to indulge it. He had adopted extremely
meticulous personal habits and was an immaculate dresser. Despite his
cultivated appearance, Ayres acquired the reputation of a stubborn fighter who
convinced his men early on that they could expect to be driven hard.

Ayres was born along the Mohawk River in upstate New York, the son of a
small-town doctor who raised several sons for professional life--Romeyn was
singled out for a military career and was tutored rigorously in Latin by his
father. He entered West Point, where he was an indifferent scholar, graduating
22nd (despite his Latin scholarship) out of the 38 members of the class of
1847--John Gibbon and A. P. Hill were his classmates. He was posted to the
artillery and entered the humdrum army life of the 1850's, serving in garrisons
in the East and on the frontier. He developed the usual Regular Army
observance of regulations, but retained a common-sense rebelliousness, a
paradoxical streak that stayed with him throughout his career. On a march in
Texas, during a few days' rest he happened to pitch his camp near the permanent
command of an officer who outranked him.. This officer was a letter-of-the-law
man about Army Regulations, and had his reveille "at daybreak." Ayres had
always liked to sleep in, but the senior officer assumed command over Ayres,
and ordered him to comply with the Regulations.

After an interview with his superior, Ayres retired to his camp and issued
the following order, sending the officer a copy:

Company Orders:

Until further orders, daylight in this camp will be at six o'clock.

R.B. Ayres

Ayres became a captain in the 5th Artillery at the outset of the Civil War
and commanded its Battery E, distinguishing himself at Bull Run, where his
battery's rearguard action saved the fleeing Union army from Confederate
cavalry in the aftermath the battle. He rose swiftly in the artillery,
fighting as Chief of Artillery for a Sixth Corps division on the Peninsula and
at Antietam, and was promoted to Chief of Artillery for the entire Sixth Corps
before the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. All of his performances
in these battles were followed by numerous commendations by officers who
obviously admired his ability.

Since promotion was much swifter in the infantry, able artillery officers
were often given infantry commissions as a reward for good service. This was
granted to Ayres. After three months on sick leave recuperating from lameness
caused by an injury he received when his horse fell, he was given a brigade of
infantry, the First Brigade of the Regular Division (which would be commanded
at Gettysburg by Hannibal Day), on April 21, 1863. As the historian of Sykes's
Regular Division put it, "It was reassuring for the men to learn that this
crusty old Regular had been in the field from the start and carried a
reputation for quiet dependability." Infantry command brought out Ayres's
sometimes bizarre reactions to the grimness of war: In one battle, a colonel
of his brigade cowered under fire and was observed by Ayres. After a private
interview with Ayres, the next day the colonel was found in the hottest part of
the action. Soon an officer of his regiment reported to Ayres, "General, poor
Colonel _____ is killed." "Thank God!" replied Ayres, "his children can now be
proud of him."

At Chancellorsville in early May 1863, Ayres's new brigade was not heavily
engaged; the entire Fifth Corps was never put in by faltering commander Maj.
Gen. Joe Hooker.

Afterward came the Gettysburg campaign, and Ayres assumed command of the
division in the chain of promotions brought about by Meade's ascension to
command of the army--Sykes taking Meade's place at the head of the Fifth Corps,
and Ayres taking Sykes's place at the head of the Regular Division--which
occurred only three days before the crucial battle of the war. Command of an
infantry division was a new and untried responsibility for Ayres--even his
experience in command of a brigade, at Chancellorsville, didn't amount to much.
But Ayres was a career soldier who had shown rare ability as a divisional and
corps artillery commander through much of the war, and his character and
professional training suited him extremely well for the crisis. Also, the
Regulars were the division most likely to perform correctly without any
commander at all, out of sheer force of habit.

At Gettysburg

On July 1, while the battle of the first day was being fought on the
ridges west of Gettysburg, Ayres was with the main Fifth Corps column, marching
from Union Mills to Hanover, then heading toward Gettysburg about 7:00 in the
evening. Ayres's division arrived on the battlefield from the Baltimore Pike
at 11:00 on the morning of July 2, along with Barnes's division. The men
immediately went into camp near Power's Hill and rested for a few hours.

Ayres's three brigades were hurried to the Union left with the rest of
the Fifth Corps when Longstreet's Corps threatened that flank about 4:00 that
afternoon. Soon after they arrived, corps commander Maj. Gen. George Sykes
detached Brig. Gen. Stephen Weed's lead brigade to reinforce Col. Strong
Vincent's brigade, fighting for its life on Little Round Top. He then directed
Ayres to bring his two Regular brigades to the support of Caldwell's division,
which was counterattacking the Rebels in the Wheatfield. Ayres advanced,
heading west from Plum Run Valley into the woods on the east side of the
Wheatfield, and while he was conferring with Caldwell on the best next step, an
aide noticed that Caldwell's men were running away on the right.

The cause of the Union flight was the Confederate breakthrough in the
Peach Orchard, which opened the way for a flood of Southerners, mostly
Wofford's Georgians, to stream past the Wheatfield and around Ayres's right,
threatening to surround him. Ayres's two Regular brigades made quickly for the
rear, suffering heavily as they ran a gauntlet of fire. Neither would be fit
for further duty due to their losses.

At Gettysburg, Ayres and his Regulars never had a chance to show how
well they could fight. Ayres escaped any personal blame--he was included in
Sykes's praise of all the Fifth Corps division leaders, and he continued to
lead the Regular Division until spring of the next year. In the army
reorganization of March 1864, he was replaced by Brig. Gen. Charles Griffin,
but another Fifth Corps division was soon found for Ayres in June 1864, which
he led until the end of the war.